


Twelve Rounds... Plus or Minus a Few Centuries

by FlawedVictori



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Memoirs, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 06:40:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20541758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlawedVictori/pseuds/FlawedVictori
Summary: The Old Guard was, in Virtue's mind, a figment of the newer guardians' imaginations.The idea that the older guardians were somehow better had already been disproven by the Young Wolf, and even if it hadn't, all the old fucks had over the new kids was an abundance of scars and stories to tell around the fire.And as someone who'd lived for more than a millennium, she had plenty of both.And if the Stray's Stay wanted to hear the story of her life, well... who was she to say no?





	Twelve Rounds... Plus or Minus a Few Centuries

**Author's Note:**

> SERIOUS CONTENT WARNINGS. This is the story of Virtue's life, or, the first chapter of it. There's death, parental death, kid death, like... Drug use, Alcoholism, presumably that's all but I'll add more if more show up. This is gonna be running along a lot of genres, because it's the story of a whole life. And like... legitimately, this might be one of the best things I've written in a long time. I hope you all like it!
> 
> Several of my friends ocs show up in this, if you'd like to read more about them, feel free to check out my buddy Antievil! We have a fic together about Key and Vel, and she has several slice of life pieces for the rest of the group!

“What about you?” Key asks, tilting her head, a hand holding Vel’s beneath the table. “What’s your life been like?”  
  
“Yeah, dinosaur.” Vel says, grinning like an idiot who was… well… holding a girl’s hand under the table. “You’ve been around forever, what kind of sh-stuff have you seen?”

“Well…” Virtue starts, shaking her head…. And sighing, a little. “That’s a long story, so make sure you got the drinks you need, because I ain’t repeating shit.”

Vel raises her glass, and Virtue smiles.

“Alright, so...”

/

_You already know this part. I woke up in a crashed jumpship during the collapse, a few dozen clicks out from the shadow of the Traveller._

_There were a couple families nearby, group of poor, hungry bastards getting slaughtered by thralls._

_I’d just been rezzed for the first time, probably no more than a week or two after I’d died, and I was right into the shit._  
  
_\----_

She snatches up a discarded shotgun as the voice that was and wasn’t hers whispers in her mind, warning of danger and giving instructions.

At it’s bequest, she swings to the right, pumping shots into the writhing mass of faceless, gaunt… _things, _emptying the weapon and moving in with her fists.

They scream, an angry, horrifying sound clashing with the terrified shrieks of the humans as they all press in on her and she finds herself adopting a slightly-stiff stance, ducking between flailing arms to strike back with a flurry of jabs-

And lightning awakens beneath her skin, leaving contrails in the air as she continues her assault, every swing, every jab, every dodge leaving sparks hanging in the air…  
  
And the voice screams at her to swing and she sets her foot, spinning with the punch as she throws a massive haymaker and the sparks _explode_.

And, with a sudden finality, the things are no more.

She looks over to the group, and her stomach drops.

\----

_They’d been slaughtered. Not all of them, but… too many. But the fucked up part is… The ones who weren’t, they were used to it. Fucking..._

_Kids, no more than, what, eight years old, and they’d already seen enough death in the collapse that watching everyone die in front of them had barely fazed em._

_I was just glad I could help._

\----

One of the kids stares at the bodies, unblinking, and before she knows what she’s doing she’s kneeling down beside them.

“Hey, there…” She says, as warm as she can. “Can you tell me your name?”

“Ari.” The kid says, sniffling. “My name’s Ari.”

“That’s a pretty name.” She says, casting an eye over the body… and feeling her heart fall as she spots the obvious resemblance. “Ari, I-”  
  
“What’s yours?” Ari asks, tearing her eyes from the corpse of… her father? Brother? Who could say.

And she just blinks. “What?”

“Your name?” Ari says, nodding.

“My…” She blinks again, staring away. “What’s-”  
  
“I don’t know, I’m afraid.” A small, flying robot- her ghost, Persephone, that voice says in her mind- “We never know anything about the ones we’re assigned to raise, aside from who it must be.” Persephone says, rotating her interlocking parts and bobbing in the air. 

“I don’t know.” She says, turning away from Persephone’s shrug. “Guess I don’t have one.”

“Well…” Ari says, squinting at her. “You… you’re like a knight, right? A hero!”  
  
She raises an eyebrow at that, looking down at the ruined jacket and singed jeans she was wearing and sorely wishing she had some shining armor, right then. But… “I guess I am, sure.”  
  
“So…” Ari says, clearly thinking, “Honor?”

“I don’t think so.” She says, glancing over at the other groups, who were clearly eager to get away from the bloodshed, and makes her decision. “Hey, let’s walk and talk, okay?

“I’m tired.” Ari says, looking over at the bodies again. “Daddy used to carry me when I got tired.”

“Okay then, I’ll carry you. C’mon, up here.” She pats one massive shoulder, and Ari hesitates for a moment… but clambers on nonetheless, and she stands, walking over towards the group, a hand keeping Ari steady as the kid whispered name possibilities and the adults discussed their next move.

\----

_They’d heard rumors of people forming a safe haven nearby, but they didn’t know if they were true. They’d also heard of people like me, so I decided I’d go with them. I wasn’t that good, yet, but I could swing my fists and fire a gun, and Persephone had told me she could bring me back when I died, so I wanted to use that power to keep them alive._

\----

“Chivalry?” Ari asks.  
  
“I don’t think so.” She responds, chuckling. “How about cowardice?”

“No!” Ari protests, giggling. “Knights are supposed to be brave! And, uhhh…. Virtuous. Oh! Virtue?”

“Virtue?” She asks, blinking. Something… clicks, in it, something feels right where everything else hasn’t, and she shrugs, being sure to tighten her grip on Ari first. “Sounds good to me.”

/

“You’re full of shit.” Vlana says, flipping a chair around and taking a seat at the table, herself. “_That’s_ how you got your name?”

“No lie.” Virtue says, chuckling. “Found out later that Ari’s dad had been a big fan of the Arthurian Legends. Made a lot more sense, then.”

Vlana just raises an eyebrow, and Virtue laughs. 

“What, you think I’d lie about how I got my own name?” Virtue asks, raising an eyebrow back, and Vlana scoffs.  
  
“No, I just… I dunno, it doesn’t sound very you, that’s all.” Vlana says, looking away, and Virtue gives a pained little smile.

“Yeah, well, it’s not the only thing.”

/

_And so, we walked. Three days, with hunger eating us up inside, kids crying, parents gauging how much food they had and staring daggers at anyone with more. Don’t know if they’d have made a move if I hadn’t been there, if the whole thing would’ve gone to shit, but…it didn’t._

_I spent my time carrying kids, mostly. Between the light and being 6’8 and built like a brick shithouse, I could handle it. _

\----

Even people like her needed sleep, food, water… and she hated it.

She’d much rather give as much as she could to everyone else, give the kids more supplies, never rest so no one else needed take watch, but…

Virtue sighs and punches the remnants of her jacket, balled into a makeshift pillow, before settling in and trying for a couple hours of shut-eye, at least.

\----

_I’m pretty sure I made the adults anxious. Makes sense, though. I wouldn’t trust a walking corpse, either. The kids were fine with it, but I’d bet they just liked not having to walk._

_Ari, though… Ari took to me quicker than any of the rest of them. Can’t say I blame her. Didn’t really have anyone else._

\----

The hunger pains wake her up, another reminder of the bits of mortality she still had left.

They come and go in bursts, but… she ignores them in favor of raising an eyebrow down at her stomach.

Ari’s head is there, the girl cuddled up to her side, her _actual _camping bag laying abandoned nearby.

She’s shaking, the space around her eyes raw and red, so Virtue puts aside the hunger pains and gently rests a hand on her back, humming softly.

Eventually, Ari quietens down, and so does Virtue.

\----

_On the fourth day, though… we ran into some trouble. Another big pack of thralls, but this one was different._

_They were scarred, had missing bits, bullet holes clearly visible in the chitin. Seeing it, then, I knew._

_We were almost home._

\----

The screams start to catch up just as they’re cresting a hill, everyone running with all their might…

And Virtue nearly cries with relief when she sees clearly new walls and armed guards…

But they wouldn’t get there in time, unless…

“Here.” She says, kneeling down and letting the kids she’d been carrying scurry over to their parents. “I need you two to go with your mom, okay? And-”  
  
“No!” Ari says, squeezing her neck for all she’s worth. “I don’t wanna!”

“Sweetheart.” Virtue says, swallowing and pulling the kid off her, holding her out to and exasperated mother who, thankfully, owed her a favor. “Go with them. Time to do my duty, okay? I’ll see you in just a minute.”

“No!” Ari yells, as Virtue turns around, steeling herself.

“Run for it.” She instructs, and people start to run, the mother carrying Ari included. “I’ll give them more important things to worry about.”

She ignores the pains in her stomach, the dizziness, the headache…

And forces her light to the surface, wreathing her arms in electricity and charging the pack, laughing.

\----

_I bought them enough time to get into the town. Killed most of the group before they finally took me down, and the guards got the rest._

_When Persephone brought me back, I was surrounded by fuckers with guns and one thin, cocky-looking bastard flanked by a ghost._

_I knew I hated him, from the moment I saw him._

\----

“Heya, gorgeous.” He says, grinning and leaning down as Virtue’s eyes open. “What’s your name?”

He’s a spindly little thing, with bright eyes and a disturbingly perfect smile, and she can’t help but grimace at the line. “Virtue.” She says, raising a hand to block out the light as she sits up. “Mind telling your boys to stand down?”

“Not yet.” He says, spitting off to the side and putting his boot out to push her back to the ground, resting his weight on her. “Can’t have another immortal fuck walkin’ around unchecked, that’s bad business, innit?”

There’s a sudden, almost animalistic urge to rip his leg off, but….  
  
She lets it settle, glaring up at him. “Fine, you’re the boss.”

“And don’t go forgettin it, luv.” He says, pulling a handcannon out and leveling it at her head. “Now then, to business. Needed the extra manpower anyway, so n’matter what ya end up doin, your friends are stayin’ here, yeah?”

“Good.” Virtue says, glaring up at him. “They’re good people, they need a home.”  
  
“I ain't finished.” He says, calm as can be, pulling the hammer back. “Ya got three choices. Either you slink out of here all quiet-like, and we tell em all you died savin’ em, you try to argue with me and I kill ya right here, or…”  
  
“I work for you?” She asks, and he increases the weight on her chest… but not nearly enough to hurt someone built like her, and she’s not intimidated. 

“You come be my right hand. Big fuck like you, don’t think any other shits’ll even _try _and tangle with us. You get food, a place to sleep, and I’ll keep that daughter of yours safe.”

Virtue raises an eyebrow at that, but nods. “How could I say no?”

“Good on ya.” He says, finally stepping off her and crossing his arms. “Name’s Cour, but you can call me boss like everyone else. Hope you’re ready to work, because we need to get some more ammo.”  
  
“Whatever you say, boss.” Virtue says, biting back a dozen insults as she forces herself to her feet, still wobbling. “Mind if I get some food first?”  
  
He snorts. “Not till you’ve worked. I saw what you did to those bugs, you ain’t gonna make me think you can’t do it.” And he turns around, chidingly waving the gun at her over his shoulder. “Jordan, take it from here. I’ve got pressin’ matters to attend to.”

And he walks away, as every inch of her body screams at her to kill him.

/

“And you didn’t?” Elise asks, plopping down in Vlana’s lap and ignoring her irritated muttering.

Virtue shrugs. “He had food, guns, and a bed I could sleep in. Wasn’t like I saw any better alternatives.”

“What, didn’t want to become a warlord?” She jokes, stretching out in Vlana’s lap like a cat in the sun as she gets comfortable. 

“Heh, not quite. Wasn’t ever my kind of racket.” Virtue says, taking a long swig from her drink. “Now, where was I…”

/

_Time… flew by, really. _

_I might have hated Cour, might not have liked his men, but the civilians were okay. Everyone did their part, everyone pitched in where they could, and shit was good, for a while._

_Ari ended up moving in with me, picked up an apprenticeship with the blacksmith on her tenth birthday. God, I was so fucking proud of her._

_Got a few good years, there, and sometimes… sometimes I miss them, even now._

_But it didn’t last. Nothing ever could._

_/_

Virtue _still _wasn’t trusted with a gun.

Which was fine, really, it wasn’t like she needed one. She could handle herself just fine without a weapon of _any _kind, but…

She carried around a pair of cestus anyway.

Sure, she didn’t really need to worry about protecting her hands or adding any extra oomph to her punches, but… Ari had made them, and that was all that mattered, just like with the clumsily-made, too-small bracelet she kept on a leather cord around her neck.

The necklace was good luck, or so she told herself, and the cestus, well… at least they helped with intimidation, when she needed it.

\----

_It’d been a slow week. I’d been assigned to guard the north side of town while Ian’s crew went out on a scouting mission, and the only exciting thing all day had been the mad sprint to get there on time from my place._

_I was pretty used to boring days, by then. Cour might’ve said I’d be his right hand, but he’d shunted me down to basic guard duty the second I’d questioned him._

_Worked for me, though. I’d preferred protecting people to staring them down, even back then._

_The real problem with quiet days, though, is that they never last forever._

\----

Virtue’s close to nodding off from the boredom and the sun when she hears it, when she _feels _it.

The explosion is loud, sure, but what’s worse is feeling the walls shake, feeling her light spring to the surface, feeling a sudden rush of heat.

She runs for it, pushing her body to get every ounce of speed she can.

\----

_The entire south wall was down._

_People were screaming, thralls were swarming the town, but all I could think of was Ari, asleep at home, alone._

_My superiors were yelling on the comms, needing me in fifteen places at once, but I didn’t give a shit._

_Ari needed me, my daughter needed me. I wasn’t going to let her down._

_And then…_

_I did._

\----

“Virtue!” Jordan’s gravelly voice booms in her headset. “We need you! Get your ass to the shelter!”

And she doesn’t hear it, her blood pounding in her ears as she runs for it.

“Where is everyone?” Someone screams, terror twisting the voice too much to be identifiable. “Where’s the south team?!”

And she ignores it, forcing herself to keep running.

“North team is down! Repeat, north team is down!” Diz says, in that shockingly-calm dispatch voice she’d been blessed with. “They’re swarming, east team, proceed to the shelter to secure it, west team, go find Virtue. We need someone with the Light!”

Her home comes into view, and her stomach drops as she spots the flames.

And then she hears it.

Ari, crying for help, and a thrall’s enraged scream.

She doesn’t think, doesn’t breathe, she just _moves_.

Through the fire, through the stench of the faceless fucks, through the death, she sprints into her home.

\----

_I almost made it._

\----

She doesn’t do anything for a long time.

She just stares, numb, as her home burns around her and screams ring in her ears.

Eventually, things start to fade back in.

The scent of blood, both hive and human.

The heat pressing in on her.

The tears streaming down her face.

Her own breath, coming too quick, her heart beating, her blood pumping, her life-

_She can’t trade it she can’t fix it she can’t get her back_

Her life ticking on as everything presses in.

She takes a shaky breath, trying to get herself under control, and it turns into a sob as she falls to her knees.

The fire licks at her, and she slams a massive fist into the ground, electricity crackling to life along her arms as she screams…

But she’s far from the only one.

“Virtue! Where are ya, luv, I can’t kill all these bugs on my own!” A tinny voice yells in her ear, and everything becomes horribly, blessedly clear.

She raises a finger to her ear, choking down a sob.

“Virtue here. I’m back. These bugs won’t know what hit them.”

“The fuck you been, luv?” Cour yells, and she just laughs, mirthless.

“Hell. I’ll let you know when I’m back.”

\----

_I’m not proud of what I did there._

_I never went to the shelter, didn’t protect anyone, didn’t bother responding to any distress calls._

_I hunted every single one of them down. Killed until there was nothing left, and then…_

_Then I dealt with the fallout._

\----

“Where the _fuck _were you, Virtue?” Cour hisses, shoving her, but she doesn’t budge. “People died! Good people! Useful people! While you were off jerking your fucking dick-”  
  
Virtue hits him.

She doesn’t think about it, doesn’t consider what will happen.

She just swings with all her might, and feels a rush as it connects.

He hits the ground, unmoving, and she strides off, daring anyone to say something.

And no one does.

/

“I… I’m so sorry, Virtue.” Tarow says, finishing refilling her drink and giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I can’t imagine…”

Virtue just shakes her head, giving a pained smile. “It’s alright, been a few centuries, that wound’s had time to heal.”

“So… what did you do after that?” Vlana asks, clearly trying to move things past the pain, and Virtue gives her a smile for it.

“I didn’t handle it too well. Spent a few months wandering, trying to get my head in order, but then I got antsy, needed something to do aside from waste away.”

“And?”

“I did the only thing I could, in a world without the City, without anywhere safe.” Virtue says, sighing.

“Yeah?” Vlana asks, sitting back.  
  
“I became a Warlord.”


End file.
